Keynote speakers include Bishop Suffragan Nedi Rivera of Olympia, the first Latina Bishop in the Episcopal Church, and the Rev. Dr. Ann Holmes Redding, director of Adult Faith Formation/Renewal at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle.

Other presenters include the Rev. Dr. Winfred Vergara, missioner of the Episcopal Church Center's Office of Asian American Ministries; the Rev. Richard Helmer, secretary of Episcopal Asian American Ministries (EAM); and the Rev. Drs. Fran Toy and Franco Kwan of the EAM Council.

For more information and registration call Jeremy Abeya in the Asian American Ministries Office at 212.716.6087 or email jabeya@episcopalchurch.org

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[ENS] The University of Toronto, in Toronto, Ontario Canada will be the venue for the third International Conference on Afro-Anglicanism. 

“Celebrating the Gifts of Afro-Anglicanism” will be the theme of the July 20-27 gathering, which invites participants from Africa and the African Diaspora to identify and celebrate their gifts and offer them to the wider church.

Afro-Anglican conferences began in 1985 in Barbados, when more than 200 Black Anglicans, bishops, clergy and lay persons from Africa, England, the United States, Central America, and the West Indies assembled. Recognizing that there were many experiences and concerns in ministry that they shared, they decided to hold gatherings of Afro-Anglicans every 10 years to share and grow from their experiences.

Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of Cape Town will preach at the opening worship service.

Some of the issues to be discussed at the conference include indigenous spirituality; new forms of worship; the historical African church; new democracies and the challenge of human rights; post-colonial realities; slavery and reparations; and the challenge of being Black in a multicultural society.

For registration visit http://www.mercerschool.org/ or call 516.248.4800 ext. 34/35.

Note: The following titles are available from the Episcopal Book/Resource Center, 815 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10017; 800.334.7626 or 212.716.6118; http://www.episcopalbookstore.org/.

To Read: ASIAN AMERICAN DREAMS: The Emergence of an American People by Helen Zia (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, New York, 2000, 331 pages, $14.00.)

From the publisher: This groundbreaking book is about the transformation of Asian Americans from a few small, disconnected, and largely invisible ethnic groups into a self-identified racial group that is influencing every aspect of American society. Asian American Dreams also examines the rampant stereotypes of Asian Americans that have an impact on key issues concerning all Americans, from affirmative action and campaign finance to popular culture and national security.

Helen Zia, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, grew up in the 1950s when there were only 150,000 Chinese Americans in the entire country. An award-winning journalists, Zia has covered Asian American communities and social and political movements for more than 20 years. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area.

To Read: OUT OF SILENCE: Emerging themes in Asian American Churches by Fumitaka Matsuoka (United Church Press, Cleveland, Ohio 1995, 168 pages, $11.95.)

From the publisher: Out of Silence probes into religious expressions by presenting a description and analysis of the experiences of Asian American Christians of Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, and Korean ancestry. The response to these challenging experiences—far too long ignored—offers new models and dynamics to the work of reconciling humanity. Matsuoka’s eloquent treatment of the Asian American church speaks to all Christians—“the liberation of each group shall be the bond that unites us all.”

Fumitaka Matsuoka is vice president for academic affairs and dean of the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California.

To Read: CAN I GET A WITNESS?: Reading Revelation through African American Culture by Brian K. Blount (Westminster John Knox Press http://www.wjkbooks.com/ Louisville, Kentucky, 2005, 155 pages, $16.95.)

From the publisher: In this provocative study, Brian Blount reads the book of Revelation through the lens of African American culture, drawing correspondences between Revelation’s context and the long-standing suffering of African Americans. Applying the African American social, political, and religious experience as an interpretive cipher for the book’s complicated imagery, he contends that Revelation is essentially a story of suffering and struggle amidst oppressive assimilation and that witnessing was the ethic by which John wished people to live.

Brian K. Blount is Richard J. Dearborn Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Princeton Theological Seminary. He is the coauthor of Preaching Mark in Two Voices and Struggling with Scripture and coeditor of Making Room at the Table.

To Read: THE QUEST FOR LIBERATION AND RECONCILIATION: Essays in Honor of J. Deotis Roberts Edited by Michael Battle Foreword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Westminster John Knox Press http://www.wjkbooks.com/ Louisville, Kentucky, 2005, 221 pages, $29.95.)

From the publisher: With this book, the reader is invited into the enduring contributions of J. Deotis Roberts. With essays from nationally and internationally recognized theological figures, this book attests to the powerful impact of Robert’s theological vision, one that remains instructive for how we still navigate liberation and reconciliation in the world. J. Deotis Roberts, the founder of the Foundation for Religious Exchange (FREE) has taught at a number of universities and seminaries, including Howard University, Yale University, Duke University, and the Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He was the first and only black president of the American Theological Society and one of its earliest African American members. He is the prolific author of many books, including the groundbreaking Liberation and Reconciliation: A Black Theology as well as A Black Political Theology: The Prophethood of Black Believers: An African American Political Theology for Ministry; and his most recent Bonhoeffer and King:Speaking Truth to Power.

Michael Battle is the vice president, associate dean for academic affairs, and associate professor of theology at Virginia Theological Seminary.